Homicides rapidly stacked up in Baltimore in the last week, quickly overshadowing a brief lull in killings seen at the start of the month and reviving the daily pace of death that has defined the crime fight in the city for much of the past year.

As of Monday, there had been 71 homicides in Baltimore in the first 79 days of 2017. Eleven were logged in the last week, compared to zero the first week in March.

The deaths included those of Shi-Heem Sholto, 19, and Tyrone James, 17, in the firebombing of an East Baltimore home Saturday, and the fatal shooting of Dashon Houston, 26, on the Alameda in Northeast Baltimore on Sunday, police said.

They also included the fatal shooting in West Baltimore on Wednesday of Montell "Telly" Pridgett, 24, a local boxer, and the fatal shooting in East Baltimore on Thursday of Markell Scott, 19, a student.

Police said Davon Fair, 24, who was shot on Tuesday in Northeast Baltimore after "an attempted robbery went bad," died from his injuries on Friday. Also on Friday, Donya Rigby, 28, was fatally shot in Southwest Baltimore. Police arrested Aaron Daniels, 24, in Rigby's killing on Sunday.

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One of the week's homicide victims, Terry Wells, 29, was shot in 2007. But his death was only recently ruled a homicide.

Two others, Howard Martin and Earline Thomas, both 53, were discovered with fatal stab wounds in a North Baltimore home on Tuesday, though police said the couple had been "dead for a while." They are still investigating.

T.J. Smith, a police spokesman, said the city has seen "some absolutely tragic cases" in the past week.

He said the violence is due to a range of factors, but is not related to any change in deployments by the police department — including its recent move away from plainclothes officers in violent neighborhoods.

This is a collection of mug shots released to The Baltimore Sun during the reporting of recent news stories.
"We don't think any of these situations were due to any deployment issues," Smith said. "The fact of the matter is there are actually more officers in uniform on the street, and there is a different level of omnipresence than existed when officers were in plainclothes."

The federal indictment landed as the department is exceeding its overtime budget by tens of millions of dollars. Police officials have said they are struggling to fill patrol shifts.

Baltimore saw the most homicides per-capita in its history in 2015, with 344, and the second most in 2016, with 318. So far, a similar pace has held in 2017.

Months with 30 or more homicides used to be rare; since July, it's happened five times. There have now been 17 this month with 11 days to go.

In addition to the killings, Baltimore police were also investigating a number of non-fatal shootings in the last week, including the separate shootings of two men in their vehicles late Sunday and early Monday.

Early Monday, a 23-year-old man was shot in his vehicle in West Baltimore. Late Sunday, a 27-year-old man was shot in his vehicle in Southeast Baltimore, in Dundalk.

On Friday, a 13-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man were shot in Southwest Baltimore.

Police also this week arrested 19-year-old William Neely in the fatal shooting of Donald Symptom, 20, on Feb. 1. Neely had been wanted in the shooting for nearly two months, police said.

Also arrested this week were Charles Cottman, 15, and Kevin Vaughan, 14, both charged as adults with the attempted carjacking and shooting of a 58-year-old man in West Baltimore on March 11.

The women stood on the West Baltimore corner Monday shaking their heads as homicide detectives searched for clues around a gold Volkswagen parked in front of the Rainbow Carry Out.

Equilla Henriques, 45, had seen the shooting victim on the ground next to the car, a paramedic pumping his chest. She had yelled to him even though he was a stranger: "We here for you! We here for you! Come on back!"

The man — identified Tuesday as Ernest Soloman, 26, of Brubar Court in Baltimore County — was shot multiple times in the 2400 block of Reisterstown Road just south of Gwynns Falls Parkway and Mondawmin Mall. He was pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Hospital a short time later, police said.

Moments later, a commotion stirred beyond the yellow tape. A detective opened one of the rear doors of the Volkswagen and pulled a toddler out of the car into his arms. All three women on the corner let out screams.

A detective walked to the police tape. He said you couldn't see the toddler through the heavily-tinted windows of the car, even standing right next to it. Then he'd heard a cry from inside. The toddler — a girl — must have been asleep before then, he thought.

Officers quickly got her water, and wetted a cloth to cool her down.

The girl, who was in a car seat, was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, but appeared to be fine, said Donny Moses, a police spokesman. She appeared to be less than a year old, he said.

Soloman owned the Volkswagen, but police still were trying to determine the relationship between him and the girl late Monday, Moses said.

Yellow evidence markers surrounded the Volkswagen. One marker was on the trunk of the car. Police did not describe precisely where they believed Soloman had been shot.

Moses said police did not make a mistake in not opening and searching the car sooner.

"Who would think that a baby would be in that car in the middle of a shooting scene?" he said.

The shooting marked Baltimore's 76th homicide of 2017. Through March 18, homicides and nonfatal shootings were up more than 40 percent over the same time last year.

The 74th homicide of the year occurred Sunday about two blocks away in the 2300 block of Tioga Parkway, where Victorious Swift, 19, was fatally shot. Moses said police were investigating whether there were any connections between the two shootings. (The 75th occurred Sunday night in Southwest Baltimore.)

"We leave no stones unturned," he said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call detectives at 410-396-2100, text a tip to 443-902-4824, or call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCK-UP.

Q. wrote:
The shooting marked Baltimore's 76th homicide of 2017. Through March 18, homicides and nonfatal shootings were up more than 40 percent over the same time last year.

Baltimore police: Woman fatally stabbed in Southeast district

A 34-year-old woman was stabbed to death early Tuesday in Southeast Baltimore, police said.

Police from the Southeast District responded to the 3500 block of Esther Place in Baltimore Highlands at about 2:45 a.m. Tuesday to find the woman stabbed in the abdomen. She was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital, where she died, police said.

Witnesses heard a scream and saw a man — described as Hispanic, appearing to be in his 20s, about 6 feet tall and wearing a red shirt — running west.

The homicide is the 77th reported this year in Baltimore.

Also Tuesday, police identified two people killed Monday in the city. Otis Davis, 36, was killed in the 3900 block of Woodridge Court, and Ernest Soloman, 26, was killed in the 2400 block of Reisterstown Road.

Baltimore police homicide detectives are investigating all three cases, and anyone with information may call 410-396-2100 or 1-866-7LOCKUP — or text a tip to 443-902-4824.